My baby is now 8 months, and eating like a horse. Unfortunately, he lost weight again at his last appt.

We've been doing TF feeding with him since birth. He started on egg yolks and avocado at 4 months, and now eats most veg, meats, butter, applesauce, yogurt, and just this week - cottage cheese. NO wheat, corn or egg whites. I am still BF 3-4 times/day, and he sleeps through the night 10-12 hours.

The problem is, I'm just out of ideas. It seems that he either gets applesauce or yogurt for breakfast (sometimes egg yolks), mashed veg and maybe some chicken for lunch, and the same thing again for dinner.

I try hard to give him what we have, but sometime that doesn't work - like spaghetti - he not eating wheat or tomatoes yet.

My baby is 8 months old too. Although he still has no teeth, he loves to eat. He had lentil veggie soup, pureed and gnawed on raw celery. I find he eats almost what we eat but we are going easy on the grains for now.

That doesn't seem like much nursing for an 8 month old. Just 3-4 times in 24 hours right? Is there any way you can nurse him more often to see if that helps his weight gain?

I was going to make this point as well. At 8 months his MAIN source of food should be breastmilk. If you for some reason can't BF more I would try the NT formula recipe. The foods you are giving him already are great, but I wouldn't up his solid foods any more. He just can't get all of his nutrients from table food he needs BM or formula. Good luck, I hope this helps and that he gains for you!

Sarah married to Micah, mama to dd1 (9), dd2 (7) and ds (2). We love to

I agree that doesn't sound like enough nursing for an 8 month-old baby. When my DD was that age she was eating all those solids, but also nursing WAAAY more than that.

I would add a couple more nursing sessions (a dream feed or two at night would work well), and ditch any of the foods you're giving him that are less or equally calorically dense as breastmilk. (That'd be the veg, applesauce and yogurt.) The meats, butter and avocado will certainly help.

Ahhh...ok, so you didn't find any problem with beans?? I've been hesitant to try them at all. That would greatly add to my available variety for meals. Thank you for that idea!

I would not try undercooked, improperly soaked tougher beans yet. And no soy at all. I on;y feed ds lentils, and well cooked pinto beans. I am not comfortable with black beans and kidney beads. They just seem to tough for a young one. I actually got the idea about lentil from a mom on here that said it was traditional in Greece to feed a baby lentils as a first food.

I have a 7mth that is on the WAP formula.....she doesnt get her nourishment from food but she wants to be "eating" when we do, but she isnt interested in purees. So I have just been giving her whole foods she can put on a spoon/fork or use her hands. She has had gnawed on chicken bones, pickles, brats, bacon dipped in yolk and broccoli.

Wondering if theres any correlation, gave my ds egg yolk (along with melon - a fave around here) for breakfast - cooked enough till still squishy but pick-uppable, is that right?? well- anyhow-- he took an unprecedented 1hour 45 min - nearly 2 hour nap. wow. keep the ideas coming!!! more ideas for portable and finger food-ables would be super appreciated!!

Hmmmm...whenever I try to nurse him more, he's soooo distracted! He does pretty good first thing in the morning. He snuggles with Momma in bed and nurses very well for a long time, before his naps go ok, and before bed we snuggle again. But any other time - bottle or breast - he just plays. Pops it in and out of his mouth over and over...that kind of thing. LOL!

The lentils and replacing the veggies with more dense foods are both great ideas! Thank you so much ladies.

Ground meat sauteed in lots of coconut oil or lard goes over really well here.

Since he can do dairy, will he eat lots of butter?

Oh my yes! He looooves his butter!!

Do you not have any trouble with the cooked meat being easily choked on? Right now, unless I put it in the blender, I have to chew all his meat and spit it out before I feed it to him. I know it sounds GROSS!! LOL, but there really is no end to what I mother will do for her children. So far he chokes on it if I don't, because I simply cannot mash it well enough with a fork.

Ahhh...ok, so you didn't find any problem with beans?? I've been hesitant to try them at all. That would greatly add to my available variety for meals. Thank you for that idea!

If you get freshly dried organic beans and you soak them properly for a long time (at least overnight) and then cook them on a very low heat and with lots of veggies then beans are no problem at all for babies that young.
In fact they tend to love them because of their buttery texture; my son was crazy about lentils and white/kidney beans!

I actually got the idea about lentil from a mom on here that said it was traditional in Greece to feed a baby lentils as a first food.

Perhaps that was me!

Yes, lentils are popular here for babies and toddlers and my Naturopath (who is a WPF member and also amazing as she adapts their guidelines to the Greek tradition) highly recommended them as a first food.

I'd start with lentils and then slowly add all other kinds of legumes.

My babe just turned 9 months old today! He still has breastmilk as his primary source of nutrition, but BOY does that chunker love to eat. Oh my word. He pretty much just eats whatever we're having, I don't plan out anything different for him, I just dice stuff we're eating into little finger foods. Or if it's too spicy I give him diced avocado or something like that. So yeah, he's had beans, meat (I pre-chew, except for things like meatloaf which is already pretty smallish), eggs, any veggie we eat except greens because they are hard for him to chew, and then avocado and banana and some other fruits. I don't think variety is such a huge deal when they're this young. He gets a variety of flavors from your breastmilk if you are eating a varied diet.

I think my DSs favs are meat and bone broth. He would drink bone broth instead of water from a cup, silly boy! You can tell what I ate when I was preg with him.... meat meat MEAT.

It's not terrible. The problem is that white rice has no nutritional value and brown rice's nutrition is largely inaccessible for babies' immature digestive systems. It has calories, but less than a comparable volume of breastmilk. You can improve it, by soaking brown rice overnight before cooking, and cooking in broth, and slathering it in butter, but I wouldn't give a lot of it, especially if you're having weight gain problems.

It's not terrible. The problem is that white rice has no nutritional value and brown rice's nutrition is largely inaccessible for babies' immature digestive systems. It has calories, but less than a comparable volume of breastmilk. You can improve it, by soaking brown rice overnight before cooking, and cooking in broth, and slathering it in butter, but I wouldn't give a lot of it, especially if you're having weight gain problems.

Ok, thank you! That makes perfect sense. He doesn't get a lot, and I won't be radically upping it, it just makes something that I can make for us all, and he can just join us in eating it. And besides that, soaking, broth, and butter are good for mommy and daddy, too!!

My baby is now 8 months, and eating like a horse. Unfortunately, he lost weight again at his last appt.

We've been doing TF feeding with him since birth. He started on egg yolks and avocado at 4 months, and now eats most veg, meats, butter, applesauce, yogurt, and just this week - cottage cheese. NO wheat, corn or egg whites. I am still BF 3-4 times/day, and he sleeps through the night 10-12 hours.

...Thanks!

does he only bf 4xs per 24 hrs? an 8 month old should still be getting most (as in 75%-100%) of his nourishment from breast milk or formula. weight loss isnt normal in infants. if you arent producing enough milk id work on that or consider formula.

"...Six Months to One Year...
...In keeping with the principle that there are three major food groups, I encourage starting the child with one or two foods from each group as their first foods. These foods will be the main foods given for the first two weeks. From the animal food group, I start with egg yolks cooked for about 8-10 minutes, and butter, preferably cultured butter, as yellow as possible. The grain category will include brown rice and millet, both soaked for at least 24 hours, then cooked with plenty of water for a long time. The resultant, slightly sour, very thin porridge can be mixed with the other food eaten in this time. The vegetable group will be carrots and sweet potatoes, again cooked for a long time until they are very soft. The approximate proportions of this food should be a third of each or perhaps even up to 50% of the animal food category.

The most important nutrient for children are healthy fats. These fats help to provide immunity, development of the nervous system, and to protect them from micro-organisms. This category of food should never be lower than one third, if at all possible. After 2-3 weeks on this diet, more foods from each category can be introduced. In the animal food category during this next month or two introduce whole-milk yoghurt or kefir, slightly warmed whole raw milk, ghee, organic liver, and soup broth...
...Of all the food groups, grains are the most likely to cause digestive disturbances or allergies if they are not properly prepared. All grains should be soaked for at least 24 hours before cooking and then cooked at low heat for a long time..."

The most important nutrient for children are healthy fats. These fats help to provide immunity, development of the nervous system, and to protect them from micro-organisms. This category of food should never be lower than one third, if at all possible. After 2-3 weeks on this diet, more foods from each category can be introduced. In the animal food category during this next month or two introduce whole-milk yoghurt or kefir, slightly warmed whole raw milk, ghee, organic liver, and soup broth...

Why should an exclusively breastfed infant supplement his mother's milk with the milk/dairy products of another mammal? I understand the need of animal products in an infant's diet (since we are carnivores) in the form of eggs and meat, but I do not see the purpose of introducing dairy products at such an early age (if at all). No other mammal consumes the milk of other species, so why do we accept that this fine for human babies?

Why should an exclusively breastfed infant supplement his mother's milk with the milk/dairy products of another mammal? I understand the need of animal products in an infant's diet (since we are carnivores) in the form of eggs and meat, but I do not see the purpose of introducing dairy products at such an early age (if at all). No other mammal consumes the milk of other species, so why do we accept that this fine for human babies?

I agree that there's no point in giving a breastfed baby another species' milk straight, but yogurt and kefir can help build healthy gut flora which aids in digesting other things too, and ghee and butter are concentrated sources of fat and vitamins.

Why should an exclusively breastfed infant supplement his mother's milk with the milk/dairy products of another mammal? I understand the need of animal products in an infant's diet (since we are carnivores) in the form of eggs and meat, but I do not see the purpose of introducing dairy products at such an early age (if at all). No other mammal consumes the milk of other species, so why do we accept that this fine for human babies?

the quote here is actually from Dr. Cowan, not me. please see the link i inserted on my pp.

personally, i think it's fine to not eat dairy if you are careful to consume greens and nuts and other sources of calcium, magnesium, etc. in the OP situation, though, i would suggest doing something to help her baby gain weight, loseing weight isnt normal in an infant and to me would be a warning that what i was feeding, whether it be breastmilk or solids, wasnt providing enough nutrients to help him grow.